Love Again
by outerelf
Summary: Tie in to 'Love' . Red Alert has let Inferno go, but that doesn't mean he can't find love himself.


Jazz sighed, shuffling his feet awkwardly. Eve since the whole Mission City deal, he had finally admitted to himself that he loved Bumblebee, and not Prowl. However-

Jazz's optics shuttered fast tat the thought of telling Prowl. Prowl walked by at that moment, talking to Prime about Red Alert. Jazz winced at the thought of Red Alert. Everyone except for Inferno and Firestar knew that Red Alert was in love with the fire truck, and they had been surprised when Red Alert had given up the smooth talking fire-truck without a single protest.

Jazz took a deep breath. "Prowl, we need to talk."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert lay back in the small, hidden cave in the middle of the small outcropping of rocks, looking up at the stars, his optics fixed on the starry sky. One hand reached out, as if he could snatch one of the stars down from the sky.

Red Alert sighed deeply, staring up at the sky always made him slightly better, reminding him that he was insignificant, and one day he would never be remembered. At this point of time, it would be something he would like nothing more, especially with the pitying looks sent his way.

It had been like that ever since the marriage, and Red Alert was getting sick of it. He had made his choice. And he was glad that he had done it. Inferno deserved someone who was like him, bright and happy. Red Alert didn't fit in those categories unfortunately, so he counted his blessings that he was simply Inferno's friend.

"Wait! Prowl!" Jazz yelled, shouting to the furious police cruiser. Prowl ignored Jazz, who was rapidly being outdistanced. Red Alert made a quick decision.

Prowl moved along, furious at Jazz. _How dare he just suddenly break off everything? After all we've been through-_ A hand darted out of nowhere, and Prowl only got out a slightly muffled noise as they dragged him backwards.

Prowl stiffened against the body pressed against him, and Red Alert's voice hissed softly, "Shhh-"

Prowl relaxed slightly, and allowed Red Alert to drag him backwards. Jazz passed right by, still shouting Prowls name. Prowl turned to Red Alert, optics quickly scanning the small, empty niche. "This is remarkably well hidden."

"I know. I spent awhile making it look natural. It's been where I've been disappearing for the past few human years."

"Yes, the humans have wondered vocally. And the rest of the Ark silently."

Red Alert shrugged, slowly sitting down, and leaning against the wall. "If you don't sit down within the next 400 clicks you'll get spotted by the cameras."

Prowl crouched, and Red Alert sighed, patting the ground next to him. "We can both fit if you don't mind touching."

"I would think I'd be saying that to you." Prowl said, slowly easing into the spot, optics scanning Red Alert.

Red Alert shrugged. "I trust that you won't go crazy on me and try to kill me unless I give you a very good reason to do so." He said dryly, switching to cybertron instead of using the human language.

Prowl also decided to switch, optics shuttering quietly. "Why did you bring me here if it is indeed your hideaway?"

"I heard Jazz calling, saw you storming away, and immediately guessed. I'm not blind Prowl, I could see Jazz's confession that he loved another coming a mile away. He wasn't a good idea to fall in love with."

Nettled, Prowl snapped back, "You chose Inferno."

"Yes, but I reaped the reward of that. My glitch has calmed down incredibly, and this way I get to make sure that two of my best friends are happy." Red Alert replied.

Prowl analyzed the facts, his door wings drooping a little as he realized that Red Alert was right- "What was that?" Red Alert asked, pointing off to the side.

Prowl scanned the area, and felt his pulse beat pick up. "Decepticon. Do you think we should capture him?"

"Prowl, Form 5-3389 sub paragraph A states that we aren't supposed to engage a hostile if we don't have the proper means."

"I have a gun."

"And I have a single pair of handcuffs. Very well, I suppose that is taken care of."

"Of course. I wouldn't think about capturing him if it wasn't in accordance to the rules." Prowl said tonelessly.

Red Alert flicked the safety off on his own gun, subspacing two pairs of handcuffs. "We'll both take one."

Prowl nodded, and outlined a plan to Red Alert.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Prime looked up as Prowl and Red Alert entered, dragging along a Decepticon. The Decepticon was badly hurt, and both of the officers looked slightly satisfied. Jazz gulped, and Inferno grinned, "Red, see you caught something their!"

"Along with Prowl, yes. Is Ratchet around?"

"No, but First Aid should be in the medbay already. Along with Swoop. He's been trying to teach Swoop something or other that even I didn't understand."

The two officers stalked off, dragging their prey behind them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

One again, the small niche was filled. I t had been filled nearly once every other recharge cycle as both Red Alert and Prowl would vanish. Usually Red Alert before Prowl, but their were a few times when Prowl went first.

Jazz and Prowl avoided each other as Jazz clung onto Bumblebee, and Inferno announced after a human month that he and Firestar were going to have a sparkling.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert lay curled up in a tiny, miserable ball in is office, ignoring all attempts to draw him out until he saw the twin beginning to prank Prowl. A prank that went badly wrong.

They had originally meant to 'tar and feather' poor Prowl, however the 'Tar' happened to be this thick slimy goop, that was rapidly short-circuiting the officers wires. Red Alert stood up, running down the hallway, hoping to get to Prowl before too much damage was done. "Ratchet, We're going to need you. The twins poured something into Prowl, and its making him short circuit-"

BAM! "And he's got a gun." Red Alert finished miserably. He cut Ratchets stream of cursing, concentrating on reaching Prowl before too much damage was done.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alert held his torn off arm as he patiently waited for Ratchet, Wheeljack, First Aid and Perceptor to finish with Prowl. Inferno and Firestar were out and about, having their anniversary date for something, and Red Alert was glad they weren't here or they'd be fussing over his like he was a youngling.

Jazz and Bumblebee were waiting however, both keeping a prudent distance away from the damaged side. Sideswipe had learned the hard way that just because a mech came up on the damaged side didn't mean that Red Alerts aim with a gun got any worse if he glitched. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were in the brig right now, and Red Alert couldn't wait to be fixed so he could go curl up in his own miserable ball once more.

"Umm, Red Alert?"

"Yes Bumblebee?"

"What was the stuff they were using?"

"I believe about eighteen gallons of silly putty."

"What type of feathers were they going to use?"

"I believe synthetic materials, made big enough to be like chicken feathers to us."

Bumblebee nodded, looking back at the med bay. The door slid open and First Aid's head poked out. "We got him stabilized. Come on in Red Alert, I'll handle your arm."

Red Alert hesitantly slid off the bench, optics wary. He couldn't help but feel slightly nervous that a trainee was going to be fixing his arm- Ratchet trained or not. First Aid noticed, and his face fell a little.

Never let it be said that Red Alert was unfeeling. He had been perfectly sane before he had gotten aboard the Ark, and it had all gone downhill from there. Being stuck in the same area as the Twins, Jazz, Ironhide, and many other mechs tended to do that to you.

Red Alert made his feet move slightly more briskly, and have the privilege of seeing First Aids face lighten up a little. _He is a good mech, just a little under-experienced._ Red Alert thought, sitting on the bunk. "Do you want painkillers?"

"Nah, we're running out of those, so I'll deal with the pain." Red Alert said, waving his good hand, CPU distracted.

First Aid looked dubiously at him, then shrugged, reattaching the arm quickly. Red Alert blocked off the jolting pain by imagining step-by-step the dissembling of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. By the end of the process, a barely perceptible smirk had twitched the corners of his mouth. "Thank you First Aid, I'm going to go disassemble the twins."

"Oh no, you can't. Ratchets already claimed that privilege, along with Wheeljack, they're both furious that their spark anniversary was interrupted."

"Their going to disassemble the two right down into the molecular structures, aren't they?" Red Alert asked, disappointed. He had wanted to save a piece so he could point at it and say, 'Make me mad, and that's all that's going to be left.'

First Aid nodded, and Red Alert sighed, "Very well."

0o0o0o0oo0o0

Prowl onlined slowly, to complete darkness. His logic chips told him he was in the medbay, but he couldn't remember how he'd gotten here-

Prowl hastily stood up and fled the medbay, looking for someone to tell him what had happened before his CPU crashed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Red Alerts optic ridge rose when he saw Prowl wandering the empty halls of the Ark. Everyone else had left for various reasons, Ratchet and Wheeljack to salvage their night, Jazz and Bumblebee to get somewhere private, and others doing different things. He and Prowl were currently the only ones on the entire Ark. He stood up, and exited the room.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Here you go Prowl." Red Alert said, placing the energon cube in front of him. Prowl took it, sipping the liquid quietly, watching Red Alert warily.

Red Alert ignored the look, not aware that every movement screamed of pure exhaustion. "Red Alert, when was the last time you got a recharge?"

"I forget." Red Alert mumbled. "I've been having trouble, usually Inferno would remind me when I was supposed to recharge, but-"

Red Alerts hand waved in the air, and Prowls optic ridge rose even further. "Then it was Wheeljacks questioning for some highly unstable material. It took me nearly three orns to beat down my glitch in order to sign it off, and then it was another two orns to send it off, and then it was too late. I'm still paying for that." Red Alert muttered.

Prowl leaned back in his chair, staring at the security director. "Red Alert," The voice was slightly soft, despite its usual monotone. "How often do you agree to things that your glitch says you shouldn't?"

"Every single time I sign a paper allowing a mech, every time I leave the control room to go fix a camera. Basically, every time I do something, my glitch complains."

Prowls logic chips struggled to understand what it would be like to not be able to go a single moment without a little nagging voice telling him that he was wrong. "No wonder you stuck around Inferno if he could get rid of your glitch."

Red Alert nodded, optics flickering to the cameras before shrugging. "Go ahead and Recharge Red Alert. I'll take over for you for now."

"Ratchet-"

"Has fixed me up. I'm ordering you under sections 5-990 to get some sleep."

Red Alerts face grew mulish in its expression. "I claim rights under 5-4420 which says that my job takes place over all."

"I override that with sub paragraph C, where it says that I can order you out of the room."

"Only if the mech is under your command. I'm equal to yours."

"True." Prows optics glinted with the thought of a challenge. Time to see who knew law better. Red Alert or Prowl. It would make sense that Prowl would know it better, however Red Alert had to know all of it to stop others from breaking it, because ignorance of the law was not an excuse. It would be interesting indeed to see who could win this out. "Book 4, statement 8-99921."

"Subparagraph 4, amendment 2." Red Alert shot back, his own optics beginning to dance in amusement, realizing what Prowl was up to.

0o0o0o0o0o0

In the end, it was actually Prowl who dropped off into a recharge, his momentary alertness offset by the fact that his body was healing. Red Alert watched his back rise and fall, fascinated. The door wings twitched slightly, and Red Alerts hand reached out, tracing it slightly, unaware of the fact that Prowl had onlined.

Prowl held perfectly still, keeping up the pretense of recharging as Red Alerts hands traveled down the door wings. To Prowls slight disappointment, Red Alert avoided touching any main points, carefully skirting around any areas that Prowl could logically call an excuse for attempting to seduce him.

Prowl would have been more then eager to respond, his own spark had nursed feelings for Red Alert for a long time, even after he met Jazz, although Jazz had been a rather large deterrent.

Prowl pushed thoughts of Jazz away, and instead focused on Red Alerts hands, which suddenly stopped, lifting. Prowl wondered what Red Alert was doing for a brief moment, before the feather-light weight settled on his face, tracing the features.

Prowls hand snapped up, clasping Red Alerts hand just as Red Alert trailed a single finger across the cheek. "Red Alert, why-"

"I'm sorry!" Red Alert nearly yelped, attempting to break away. "I-I just wanted to confirm what you looked like-"

Prowls optics offlined for a brief moment, wondering if he had heard right, "Red Alert, don't you have some of the sharpest optics of the entire Ark?"

"Well, Yes!" Red Alert said, still trying to pull his hand out of Prowls surprisingly strong grip, "But their too sharp. I have to make sure things aren't as sharp of lines as they appear in my optics." The last sentenced was murmured, and Red Alerts almost frantic tugging grew slightly less panicked.

Prowl considered the facts, his grip on Red Alerts hand not slackening. Their was no way he was going to let the security director disappear and avoid him for vorns on end. "Red Alert?"

"Yes Prowl?"

"You're stronger then you seem." Prowl said, his CPU suddenly going blank.

Red Alerts face also grew blank at the unexpected compliment, as he stared at Prowl as if asking, 'What's going on here?' "What do you mean by that?"

Prowl shrugged, his monotone voice gaining a slight inflection as he said, "I had to hold on tightly to keep you from pulling your hand away, and I notice that you can drag both twins kicking and screaming to the brig."

Red Alert glanced away, as Prowl examined the hand he had captured.

Red Alert shivered and gasped as Prowl lightly ran a finger in a circle on the back of the hand. "Prowl!" Red Alert gasped, optics growing wide.

Prowl looked up, and smirked slightly. "I believe you explored me thoroughly, so it's my turn to explore you."

Red Alert could find nothing to dispute the logic, so he bit down on his tongue and tried to hide the shivers that spread across his body from Prowls, soft, careful touches. "You know Prowl-" Red Alert hated how his voice seemed rather high pitched and whiney "I do believe that Jazz taught you more then one way to seduce a mech."

"You were doing just fine with those light touches of yours." Prowl said, not looking up from his own exploration.

Red Alert growled, bending down to look Prowl in the optics. "Let me get this straight, I'm not willing interfacing right now while no one is left to guard the Ark-"

Prowl brought out the pair of handcuffs that he had managed to keep a hold of from the time that the decepticon stumbled past the little hide-away. Red Alert looked at it, and then back at Prowl, about to rise. "Oh no-"

Prowl had the advantage in both speed, and the fact that his victim was more the willing to be victimized.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hey, has anyone noticed something odd about Prowl or Red Alert?" Inferno asked thoughtfully of Jazz and the twins as they shared energon cubes one night. "I brought up the subject of handcuffs, and both of them smirked."

"Really, I haven't noticed."

"That's because you've been avoiding Prowl." Inferno said dryly.

"True." Jazz acknowledged. "Though Prowl doesn't seem half so hostile towards me anymore."

Bumblebee burst in, "Did you hear? It looks like Prowl found a new lover!"

Dead silence fell as Jazz chocked on his energon. "Who?" Sunstreaker asked, his voice struggling to remain calm.

Bumblebee shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it's someone on base obviously. I wonder if they're taken already?"

Jazz shrugged, slinging one arm around Bumblebee, who promptly snuggled up next to him.

SsSsSsSsSsSs

A little thing that bit me, chewed my leg off and started working on the other and threatened to go to my arms next if I didn't write it out. I need my arms. Forget about my legs, but I do need my arms, so I wrote it out, and I rather like it.


End file.
